CEO’s Message

CEO’s Message

Is abacus out of fashion, you may ask. Researchers from the Nippon Medical School in Japan, who have spent more than 10 years studying the human brain waves during various brain activities, discovered that the abacus has tremendous impacts on the human brain. Their studies demonstrated that students who performed well in abacus mental arithmetic exhibited exceptional mental abilities which not only enabled them to excel in mathematics, but also in other subjects.

CMA's curriculum adopts a two-hand abacus mental arithmetic approach which facilitates the balanced development of the left and right brains and is suitable for learners of different age groups. For children, our focus is on research-based strategies that aid in improving their scholastic achievements; while for adults, our learning system helps to unleash their potential brain power.

CMA is a vibrant and highly credible educational organisation committed to provide quality and cost-effective education. Since its establishment in 1984, CMA has always maintained its professional vision, which is to build an institution of high teaching quality. Therefore, we hire professional teachers and constantly try to improve our teaching skill in order to create a good learning environment by implementing vivid and lively teaching, and by choosing value-added teaching materials to suit our learners’ needs.

We are appraised by the Association of Children's Calculation with an Abacus (Taiwan) as the Highest Level Grade School and have been awarded the Best Teaching Institute by the Chinese Children's Abacus Association. We are also proud to be the first mental arithmetic education organisation that uses multimedia teaching to enhance learning.

If you are interested to be our partner in this fast developing educational innovation, we welcome you to join the CMA network in promoting the two-hand abacus mental arithmetic system island-wide. Please contact us for further information. Your valuable suggestion and comments will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely

CEO’s Profile

"I don't like math," admits Mr Tay Shy Ching.

These words may come as a surprise for many but truth be told, the CEO of CMA Singapore had a disdain for the subject from a tender age.

"I have a great phobia about math because I didn't have a good foundation. I was brought up in a kampong primary school where there was no emphasis on the subject," laments Mr Tay.

He recalls an early acquaintance with the 2/5-beads abacus when it was being taught in school back in Malaysia. He was then in Primary 5. But fast forward a decade later, the young university undergrad began to develop a love for the subject while undertaking a degree in Industrial Engineering and Management at the Oklahoma State University in the States. While at university, Mr Tay's active involvement in various teaching roles slowly spurned his other love for early childhood education.

It was a chanced discovery of CMA Taiwan's website that began to fuel his passion for two-hand four-finger abacus mental arithmetic, a unique methodology developed by its founder, Master Tai Chiang Ching.

Said Mr Tay on his personal learning experience of the two-hand, four-finger abacus mental arithemtic, "It was fun and very stimulating. At the same time it helped to sharpen my mind, increase my concentration and allowed me to remain alert and very focused at all time."

Abacus mental arithmetic became a skill Mr Tay eventually imported into Singapore in 2005 with the opening of its first branch in Yishun. Back then, there were just eight students in his first class which he tutored for free as an introduction to the programme. Within a short span of five years, he had single-handedly built an abacus mental arithmetic empire in Singapore. Today its 23 branches account for over thousands of students and a team of more than 200 trainers, a quantum leap from the early days of CMA Singapore.

Mr Tay, whose two children are also CMA students, attributes his success to having a world class programme, committed trainers who deliver the lessons with passion and love, and last but not least, his wife and fellow master trainer, Ms Chen Ching.